Editorial: Reporting Sandy

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we, the editorial board of The Brown and White, would like to first point out that communication throughout the storm was far better than what we’ve seen before in our time at Lehigh.

University Communications, the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Residential Services, the Provost’s Office and countless other groups and individuals provided timely information to the students to keep us up-to-date about the situation on campus. We appreciate the implementation of LU-ALERTS and use of emails as methods for sending important messages, but we feel the use of social media was the best way to send and receive vital information.

More specifically, the use of Twitter by the Bethlehem Police, Lehigh News and several other on-campus organizations strongly helped the community remain informed about class cancellations, power outages, evacuation centers, dining options and other news that pertained to the storm.

In comparison to last October’s Snowpocalypse, the editors of The Brown and White feel we were better prepared to cover Sandy. We strove to be Lehigh’s best source of information throughout the storm, and we feel we did a much better job during Hurricane Sandy than last year’s devastating storm. Although we did learn from our mistakes, we also need to acknowledge that it is not always best to prepare the next disaster. We should act before these types of situations occur.

Though we don’t want to criticize any individuals or organizations that were not prepared for the storm, we do want to recognize the importance of preparing ahead of time. It seems like these storms and natural disasters will continue to plague us each year. Since we can’t prevent them, we must continue to perfect our preparation.

As editors of The Brown and White, we were tasked with the duty of delivering Lehigh’s news in the most accurate and timely manner. When the power went out and phone lines were down, it was not easy to find ways to communicate with the Lehigh community.

One of our editors drove around her town in New Jersey looking for a store with internet access to post information to our website for those who needed it. Most places were closed because of the power outage, and phone lines had been damaged by fallen trees, making the job difficult. Resorting to Facebook and Twitter posts turned out to be The Brown and White’s best mode of communication because internet access was not available to update the website.

As editors, we had to lean on each other to get our information out to our readers, like we imagine many community members throughout regions affected by Sandy also had to rely on each other. In the Lehigh community, we know many faculty and staff members, as well as many others, stepped up to help students and others in this time. We appreciate those who helped us in this time and want to extend our thanks.

When these situations occur, if we aren’t prepared, which we often are not, we need to rely on each other the most. Although it is nice to say we will be better prepared next time, it’s not always possible. So we appreciate those who helped us send and receive our messages, and we hope we served the Lehigh community well during Sandy’s wrath.

-The Brown and White Editors

Let us know what you think the most effective way that Lehigh University communicated campus updates during Hurricane Sandy. Cast your vote in our opinion poll!

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